| 31 nzdairy leads to uncertainty DAIRY PEOPLE » Hayden McDonald Long hours get longer for triathlete Tracey Edwardes Long hours come with the territory, but when farming is your passion, finding energy for other pursuits seems easier. Hayden McDonald just completed Wanaka’s Iron Man Triathlon, fitting a tough training schedule around 50/50 share milking at the 120ha farm, 10 minutes from Palmerston North. The alarm went off at 4.15am, with training to 10pm, for months. Surviving on merely six hours sleep became the norm for the 2023 Manawatu Dairy Industry Awards Share Milker of the Year. “Fitting it all in was challenging, with swimming at lunchtimes and running at nights,” says Hayden. “But if you want something, you’ve got to be prepared to sacrifice something else – and sleep is often the case! But I don’t see farming as a job, it’s relaxing. I enjoy the milking and fluffing around. I can’t just do nothing, and I find running relaxing.” With his partner Danielle, they have 16-monthold Arlo who’s already a farm buff, like his Dad as a child. “Arlo always runs up and gives the cow’s a scratch – the farming obsession starts early. My 10-year-old nephew Charlie knows every cow by name, and gets up at 4.30am everyday to watch the milking before school.” Arlo’s favourite, an extra-friendly 13-year-old, will retire and live out her days at the couple’s recent purchase of 41ha, just 500m up the road. “It’s suitable for heifer yearling grazing, with a good soil type. But it needs a little TLC, so it’ll be understocked initially. It complements our 24ha block, just 2.5 km’s away from the farm. Hayden, 38, employs a full-timer and a relief milker to help run the 340 Friesian/Jersey crossbreeds. Eighty hectares of the McCracken’s farmland would be required for the motorway, raising questions about how you actually manage two dairy farms with both farms having half their land on either side of the motorway under construction. “The plan includes two proposed underpasses that would go under the motorway, giving us access from one side of the farm to the other. But how the farm is going to work during the construction stage is going to be challenging. NZTA aren’t going to want cows crossing the construction site holding up work. One of the construction sites comes within 50 metres of the cowshed so then we have issues around noise during milking. The motorway will go right over top of our feedpads and silage stack areas, so that all has to be relocated quite a distance down the farm away from waterways. If the motorway is to proceed, the logistics of how that is all going to work with the farm, or even if the dairy farm can work, still has to be nutted out.” While the future continues to be speculative, Greg admits he has had quite a few sleepless nights trying to work out all the logistics. “We don’t have any issues with NZTA doing it, it has to go through someone’s property. It’s just how do we keep farming, can we keep farming, will it remain as a dairy farm or will it end up as four smaller beef blocks with access underneath the road. I would be happy if they came to me and said we’re starting construction in two years’ time. Because then you have a fixed point to work to. It’s a bit of a political football, like many of these large roading projects, and I just want them to put a firm line in the sand and give us a bit of certainty. They are playing with our emotions, and that’s what has always annoyed me the most.” • House & Shed sites • Roading & Races • Contouring & Drainage • Subdivision & Forestry work 027 233 3185 nigel@clarkedrainage.nz •Dams & Effluent ponds •Feed pads & Arenas •Cartage truck & Trailer •Reg drainlayer & Drilling to 10m Olivia Contractors - for all your metal supplies, truck hire, drain cleaning, drainage, cow race work and horse arena construction. Phone - Mike Reid - 0274 431 775 ‘We buy semen from LIC, for breeding. We’ll hopefully get most started by 22 Oct and calf roughly 29 July, with the last calves 7-10 September - then three weeks with the bulls. I believe keeping cows less stressed and calm helps with the protein count. Because we are irrigated, there’s high-quality grass for them all year, which is lucky. We have a pretty good little system.” Expanding and farm ownership has always been the goal, however. And the couple have a few options. “In Spring we’ll have a conversation about possibly buying the farm in some way, from the owners, who are like family to us.” As a team leader for the Dairy Industry Awards, and with the committee’s help, Hayden sourced and organised judges, and also encouraged young farmers to enter. “I really enjoyed chatting to the trainees and hearing their stories. “You’ve got to have passion, and pick and choose who you work for. There are some really great employers out there. It can be difficult to get in and progress in the industry, unless parents own a farm. But if you can prove your worth, many farm owners are wanting to help young farmers succeed. “There are different ways to buy in. Corporates owning a number of farms could, say, sell 10-percent a year to their valued employee – its a way to keep good, ambitious staff. Otherwise ,they move on to higher pursuits. You can climb the ladder quickly in New Zealand, and its easier when you’re young with more energy and stamina. “I’d like to do the Iron Man again, as I’ve a good base fitness now, and still swim and run – but the farm and family come first.” Hayden McDonald with son Arlo.
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